Globularia alypum is a plant of the Globulariaceae family which grows in the Mediterranean basin. It has been described by HEGNAUER in "Chemotaxonomie der Pflanzen" vol. 4, pages 207-210 (1966) as well as Globularia vulgaris and related species of said Globulariaceae family.
In the past Globularia alypum was used or proposed in folk medicine for quite a lot of diseases. In particular water infusions of Globularia alypum flowers have been proposed as laxative, diuretic and antibrucella agents, and extracts of leaves have been proposed in the treatment of rhumatism, gout, typhoid, intermittent fever, as urinary antiseptic and as laxative.
More recently it has been disclosed by G. CALDES et al., in Planta Medica 27, 72-76 (1975) that extracts obtained from the entire plant of Globularia alypum by extraction with cold and boiling water then lyophilisation were (i) inactive as bacteriostatic (against Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus faecium) and antimalarial (against Plasmodium berghi) agents, and (ii) active against lymphocytic leukemia and neoplastic cell culture.
Taking into account the numerous and too different uses of Globularia alypum which have been proposed in the past, further studies have been carried out. These studies have now led to a new method of extraction of Globularia alypum, Globularia vulgaris and relates species of the Globulariaceae family, which surprisingly gives an extract which (i) is far more active as antibrucella agent than the previously known extracts, (ii) exhibits a bacteriostatic activity against Gram (+) bacteriae such as Staphylococcus aureus, and (iii) is also useful as antiphlogistic agent.